American owner of Pattaya Newspaper caught-up in 7 Million Baht extortion case

Pattaya Police have arrested the American Owner of an English Language Newspaper who is accused of attempting to extort 7 Million Baht from the Australian owner of a Beauty Clinic, to avoid publication of a potentially damaging story for his business. On Saturday Morning at Pattaya Police Station, Police Major General Jamnong, the Chonburi Provincial Police Commander who was flanked by Police Colonel Nantawoot, the Pattaya Police Superintendent announced the arrest of Mr. Drew Walter Noyes aged 56 and his Thai Wife, Khun Wanpar aged 29 who were caught following an undercover operation at a Jomtien Restaurant on Friday Night. Also present at the press conference was the Australian owner of the Thonglor Clinic which has branches in Jomtien and Bangkok.

He had earlier filed a Police report at Pattaya Police Station stating that Mr. Noyes had approached him and was preparing to publish a story relating to the use of unlicensed products in the Thonglor Clinic in the Pattaya Times Newspaper where Mr. Noyes is listed as the Managing Director of the publication. The report details allegations that Mr. Noyes requested payment of 7 Million Baht to ensure the story was not published. A counter-offer of 2.3 Million Baht was made by the Australian who, at this point, contacted the Police, who persuaded him to contact Mr. Noyes to arrange the payment of an initial deposit of 100,000 Baht. The meeting point was agreed upon and undercover Police waited for the transaction to be completed. Mr. Noyes and his Thai Wife were then detained and taken to Pattaya Police Station. During the press conference Mr. Noyes and his wife refused to comment but we understand he vehemently denies allegations brought against him and is prepared to fight the case in Court. Mr. Noyes was released on Bail on Saturday afternoon.

37 comments to American owner of Pattaya Newspaper caught-up in 7 Million Baht extortion case

I have always said a man is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law: and that holds true regardless of any arrest or sting operation.
I found this site through the Drummond site, I have made repeated attempts to post my opinions with drummed but too my surprise he will only post comments to feed his single sided washed-out views for any of his articles.
I have lived in the Pattaya area for many years and seen first hand the crap that goes on in this town, it would not surprise me a bit to find out in the end that the sting operation was poorly planed and executed and probably funded by a mafia boss just to take out a well respected person.

Well, THIS fly has dealt with Drew Noyes and his wife in professional matters, and have seen documents (some certified) disproving many things that are stated in the Drummond website. I have met people who cannot get their comments published on the Drummond website if those comments do not fit the Drummond narrative. Andrew: why this jihad? Why are you suppressing posts that you do not like? I think it is Fact-Check the Flying Sporran time!

I must concur with the above poster “Vega”. We must let the legal system takes its’ course. Strangely I also have been to Mr. Drummonds’ site and tried to post but my posts were never shown. I don’t know of course if Mr. Noyes is guilty or not, but it is clear from reading the Drummond site, that Mr. Drummond is obsessed with him. Unless the police have tape or video of the discussions, this may boil down to a one on one or one on two if Mr. Noyes’ wife was present at the meetings.

After reading the article on the Nation website a search turned up Andrew-Drummond.com. After reading that website, it looks like this man Noyes is bad news. When I read some other articles on Drummonds page I was upset, as a woman, not about the articles but about comments about Noyes wife by people on the page. Saying things about her needing a boob job, calling her a squaw, denigrating her looks, and other snide comments about where she came from is offensive to me and clearly sexist. Mr. Drummond, you are doing important work but you should try to keep it more civil.

Yes a man is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law; whilst that is relevant to most Western countries, this (Thailand) is NOT a western country, and if you have enough money and know the right people you can get away with just about anything including murder. As for Noyes, look at the numerous allegations against him, here in Thailand and in the US, and look at his obviously bogus CV/Resume.

While I have heard that people with money get off in Thailand, it is also often true in the U.S.A and the U.K. as well. The only criminal allegation I am aware of is this one. Are there other criminal charges? Clearly the resume is exaggerated if not a fabrication but one sees lots of this in Pattaya and I have seen instances of it in the U.S. politics where people claim to be veterans of war etc. Unfortunately, we may never know if he is truly guilty or not. As they say, this is Thailand. The elite get off and sometimes the innocent rot in jail.

It is quite clear that Drew Noyes is actually posting above. He has a long history of inventing names to puton his posts.

Me and My Uncle have had him in our sites for a couple of years now. he has a very long history of defrauding people, blackmailing girls into sex with him, rape allegations added to teh fact that he is the most absurd liar it is unbeleivable.

So Drew since you are reading this when you invent another of you names (like the way you invent your being a Doctor) you aren’t fooling anyone.

Ms. Angko, If that is your real name. How dare you have the gall to decide apparently by comments alone, who is not legitimate on this site. It seems that you have chosen posters who have written in a manner that is somewhat non judgmental toward Mr. Noyes and are apparently trying to convince people that only Mr. Noyes might have a different opinion on the matter. I call clear bias on your part.

How do we know that you are not Drummond? I challenge any reader to read Mr. Drummonds site and objectively decide for themselves if Mr. Drummond is obsessed.

It is highly unlikely that Mr. Noyes, though clearly no prince, has no friends that support him. Yet Nary a positive comment or even a reasonable comment on the site. I am not defending Mr. Noyes, I am just looking at the facts as we know them today and questioning Mr. Drummonds objectivity as a reporter.

Kim, You have no idea what you are talking about. I am not Drew Noyes. However, you make it very clear you hate Mr. Drew Noyes sooo much that you obviously prowl around the Internet forums looking for every opportunity to slander him “OR” any other posters that simply wish to post their opinions.

Now, Kim Angko I have read drummonds articles and the post that follow and found another poster by the name of “Pat Angko”. is this the Uncle that you are referring about?
The one that post so many times on drummonds site with the same type of distasteful groundless comments as yours?

Another thing that stands out when I read your post and the drummond post is they all have a very similar profile style of writings and choice of words. as if they are all from the same guy!

Kim! I can honestly tell you I have chosen to raise my children here in Thailand and I take very good care of them, We have a happy good Life!.
So my advice to you is to go and get a Life for your self, 1 you can be happy with… A life that does not require you to spend all of your days and nights searching the ( World Wide Web ) looking to Slander other posters on other sites just because they don’t agree with drummond. and Please pass my advice onto drummond for me as well.

“Vega” wrote: ‘Another thing that stands out when I read your post and the drummond post is they all have a very similar profile style of writings and choice of words. as if they are all from the same guy!’ —- Funny you should say that ‘Vega’ because that is EXACTLY what I thought when I saw your reply and the reply from ‘Ron Stokely’. So, ‘Vega’ (or should I call you Noyes) are you going to deny it?

Wow. I don’t suppose I expected much from a site dedicated to pattaya bar girls. Actually there are no references on my site to Noyes’ wife’s breasts for all I know. And if someone can point it out I will delete it. Nor indeed to have I much occasion to delete posts. Only the really moronic ones. Pretty much all are fairly sensible. Drew Noyes has registered over 120 websites (I hope this is not one of them but it sounds very much like it. I jave no obsession about Noyes. Never been introduced to the guy. Just clearing out an infestation. Vega is obviously someone who studies my site regularly.

Another fly: If you can provide a document disproving any one thing reported on my site let alone many please to show it otherwise your statement is worthless. Most of my allegations are backed up by witness statements which will be produced in court.
Stokely: I do not ban posts favourable to Noyes. I just don’t get them any more.
Adriana: Noyes wife has been a willing accomplice throughout all his recent activities. I may well have called her a squaq in the article I wrote how Noyes had sold bogus shares in the Pattaya Times to a native American indian – going under the name Geronimo. I cannot remember any comments about her breasts. give me the link and I will delete that comment if it exists.

Vega, Stokely, and fly. You are either great supporters of Noyes, or probably the great(not) man himself. This forum looks like the only one still open which allows discussion of the Noyes sting. And what do we find? More Noyes supporters than dissenters. Now, I ask you, what is the chance of that happening? He didn’t have this many supporters BEFORE he was caught this time

I too believe Drew is posting on here in several names, Just show us a certificate or Two

you told me you were a lawyer, can you show me your law degree.
You tell everyone you are a Journalist can you show us your degree? The university have never heard of you.
How many times have you to appear in court this year Drew i believe it is now 5 or 6 times.
The police at the press conference stated that they were investigating several other complaints similar to the Blackmail attempt you have been charged.

Andrew Drummond has proved without a shodow of doubt everything he as written about Drew Noyes. This is why he is our Champion, this is why good honest people donated over 200,000 baht to help in his quest to fight this man in court. Drew has now been seen behind bars on Channel 3 and 7 of Thai TV it has been in The Thai national newspapers. Drew your days are numbered here and i know of Filipino women who are complaining to there government about your business dealings in Angles City, they are trying to prevent you obtaining any kind of visa to the phillipines, But i hope you go there as there is an arrest warrent waiting for you as the Filipino ladies you invited here have made complaints in the phillipines, please get on a plane soon and see what happens this time when you land.
I believe there will be a final court case for you to answer in Thailand when all the people you have scammed (and there are many) When Andrew Drummond brings them together to take a class action against you. 20 people only paying 10,000 each in lawyers fees not a lot of money to put the final nail into your coffin Drew.

Sorry for my absence. I think it fair to say the reason I don’t spend my entire day trolling through blogsites such as Drummond’s is I feel uncomfortable operating on a site where moderators can control what is said and what is censored. If Drummond were truly an professional investigative reporter, he would be allowing all comers to have their say…

Just came across this site, for those who say Drummond has something against DN let me think out loud – is he not just doing what his readers want-chase a crook ? those of us that have come across this school yard bully want justice ? As they say don’t kill the messenger.

Now will DN make the next episode of Banged up Abroad ? I think it wont come to that as the foreign press wont risk reporting on someone who breaks the Lese Majeste laws. A fake award for personal gain is surely something that will end in a jail term.

The drummond flamers just keep trolling in… I would encourage anyone to try and make a neutral unbiased post on the drummond site and see for your self the results.

Try and post an unbiased post here on this site and you too will be slandered, Flamed, and accused of being some one you are not.

A Few days ago all i wanted to do was post a simple non invasive neutral comment, he denied me that right and than told us to come to this site. and here his team will flame and smear every body. ( Professional investigative Journalism he claims ) I think not. His site reminds me of Tabloid journalism.. Go look that up on Wikipedia then draw your own conclusion.

Dear John: 1. I’m sure there is no motivation other than excellece in journalism. Of course, taxes will be paid on whatever floods in via the “donor” button. 2. “Crook”? I will consult AD’s website to find details on the “conviction”; apologies if I don’t have the details at hand. 3. “School yard bully”: would appreciate how you personally came to this conclusion, as you have come across DN. I trust you are not simply regurgitating third-hand opinion. 4. DN broke “lese majeste laws”? Details please–citing AD’s for-profit site does not count. 5. “Fake awards”? Name one.

You see my point: we need some fact-checking here, not repeatedly re-hashed stories offered in a controlled environment (censored?). Purveyors of slant feed on each other when they congregate on certain sites. Let’s not be intellectually lazy…

And to AD I would say: open your site to opinions from both sides. Don’t be afraid. And if you have earned over THB 200,000. in the past few weeks in “donations” based principally on your campaign against DN, will you agree to donate these amounts to charity–in a transparent manner for all to see?

One last thing: It was reported AD attended a celebratory event last week-end post-arrest. Was there another celebratory event to report?

June: Maybe I did not feel the need to challenge those who have nothing better to do than frequent censored sites with their “obsessions”, as others have described them.. As we now have this site that appears to be fair & balanced, it is worth putting in my two-cents worth.

Drew you are in Denial, Your friends here in Pattaya are already jumping ship, This has been on Thai national TV channel 3 and 7 it has been in 2 national Thai newspapers, you are now too hot to handle.
I believe there are also several Thai people who are going to make complaints to the police about Lese Majeste.
Maybe you may be able to buy your way out, but if any Thai person makes a complaint about Lese Majeste you are in big big trouble Drew.

Ms. Barley, Regarding your post which unfortunately referenced me.
You seem puzzled as to the number of pro or neutral Noyes posters on this site. Furthermore, your assumption that Noyes as you state,”He didn’t have this many supporters BEFORE he was caught this time”
Upon what do you base that assumption? If your only source of public opinion is Mr. Drummonds’ site, then that would explain it. Several commentators on this site including me have clearly stated that they attempted to post to Drummonds’ site but were not published. That would certainly explain your assumption. I do not know Mr. Noyes or Mr. Drummond, however like most of us, they surely have friends and foes alike. I will let the facts come out before making judgements on any man or woman. Being arrested or sued in Thailand doesn’t mean you are guilty. Wasn’t Mr. Drummond sued, initially found liable and then exonerated? Shouldn’t Mr. Noyes be given the same opportunity?

Noyes’ own worst enemy is himself, and he scored an own goal by publishing his CV/Resume on the Internet. Most of it is fantasy and bullsh*t. The man is a liar and a fraud who publishes a newspaper in Pattaya with content that has been lifted ie stolen off of the Internet. Everything about his newspaper is phony including the claimed circulation numbers and the claim that he has 30 Thai staff working for him. One of his big lies was to claim that he was the ‘ONLY American lawyer certified to practice in Thailand’. Noyes has a history of scams back in the US, and there have been numerous claims and allegations made against him in Thailand. I have to wonder why anyone in their right mind would want to defend this man.

Just a post to state that Mr. Drummond has in fact recently published one of my posts on this topic on his website. As I complained previously that he did not, it is important that I acknowledge that. I just wrote two more on his site.

Peter, almost everything you say in your latest post is info from Mr. Drummond’s site. If you have any personal knowledge, please share it with us. Even if everything you state in your post is true, that does not prove that he committed extortion. It only proves he fabricated his CV. As to his history of scams in the U.S.A., those are a problem for the U.S.A.and one of them resulted in a civil judgement. I don’t know if the debt was paid or not.

I am curious as to the alleged victims response in this case. If he is in fact running a legitimate business and doing nothing illegal; why not just tell Noyes to go ahead and publish it and then sue him in court? If he is guilty then he should pay the price. I just want to know what the evidence is.

I must add another post on this Mr. Noyes issue: both Peter and the obviously-obsessed KhonMask continue to regurgitate info they are reading on the Drummond website without knowing what they are talking about. I personally have had sight of the certified document from the University of Tennessee registrar concerning Mr. Noyes’s journalism degree; so much for that allegation. I am also aware of the details of one royal award granted to DN. And here’s another bit of news: the National Housing Authority property referred to endlessly in the anti-DN tirade is NOT government housing for the poor: those saying that are conflating two separate housing programs, albeit both under the National Housing Authority. Now frankly I don’t have all day to go through 5 months of Drummond stories to clarify falsehoods that “the obsessed” have in relation to Mr. Noyes, but people need to get their facts straight before they get on bandwagons. It is sad that some people have lost the ability to think for themselves, and need to join a herd to get fulfillment in their lives.

Ron Stokely; you are right that the blackmail case against Noyes has not been proved, and this being Thailand unfortunatley we will probably never get to the bottom of it. But with Noyes’ history I ask you this: would YOU buy a used car from Noyes? Or would YOU trust Noyes to arrange a property purchase or a business purchase in Thailand? And you if you were in trouble with the Police in Thailand would you turn to Noyes for legal advice/help? I know I wouldn’t!

Another fly; you say that you ‘personally have had sight of the certified document from the University of Tennessee registrar concerning Mr. Noyes’s journalism degree’. We will have to take your word for that. But you might like to know that I could go out tomorrow morning and buy myself not only a journalism degree, but a degree for just about any subject you could imagine. And I could also buy myself a hatfull of awards as well. So that really doesn’t prove much, does it?

Peter; Absolutely No! I would not buy a used car from Mr. Noyes or use him for legal troubles as he is not a lawyer. As you say we may never know. However, Mr. Drummond has posted on his website that there is video of the crime. That being the case we may actually find out the truth.

Another Fly; as Peter says it is quite easy to fake documents from the U.S.A., unless they are certified. The issue with the housing should be fairly easy to prove or disprove. Mr. Drummond seems a quite good investigator with good sources. Since Mr. Noyes has charged Mr.Drummond, I imagine both sides will present their evidence. Should be interesting.

@Andrew Drummond. Am an avid reader (and supporter) as I have personal experience of being cheated by this buy, but I dont see why you have to have a “pop” at this blog just coz its about bar girls. Seems to me the comments are 50/50 but the site itself hasnt offered an opinion either way and perhaps should be grateful fort that rather than have a dig at it.

But I would like to see the B.Sc in journalism from Tennessee Knoxville which he claims he has on NAYMZ because no such degree exists. Nor for did Dukes University offer journalism when he claimed he had a journalism degree from that university, according to LA Times reporter Gold.

And finally the National Housing Authority was set up to provide affordable housing for the underprivileged. I have no argument with the NHA. It was Noyes who was claiming that he had to pay corrupt official there which was why foreigners could not get there money back.

All this means that Another Fly probably is Drew Noyes. Because actually while I believe this to be the case I have never stated on my blog that Noyes had a false university degree, but he is claiming that in a court case against me.
Nor have I said anything derogatory about the NHA, but he is claiming that in a court case against me. Too much of a coincidence.